Recently, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released an advisory about pandemic related impostor scams and money mule schemes.
Here are three red flag situations you should be aware of:
- You are contacted by an alleged government representative to verify, process, or to expedite an economic impact payment.
- You receive a receipt that seems to be a check or prepaid debit card from the US Treasury, but it has suspicious characteristics. For instance, the stimulus check may be smaller than expected, or you may be given an email or phone number to contact. You are then asked to confirm your personal information, purportedly to get the rest of the benefit.
- You receive an official-looking correspondence from email addresses that don’t match the name of the sender or use “.com” or “.biz” instead of “.gov” or “.mil,” which are official government domains.
If you suspect a situation to be fraudulent, always verify with a trusted source, like your financial institution.
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